"At a recent stay in Miami I had an amazing experience that I felt compelled to relate, and hope others with similar stories will do the same.
On Sunday, November 20th I had earlier decided to take the bus out to Sun Life stadium to watch the Miami Dolphins take on the Buffalo Bills. I had purchased my ticket online prior to arriving in Miami and after learning it was an hour and a half bus ride to Fort Lauderdale, I left my hotel around 10:30 am to ensure I was there by the 1:00 pm start time. I had walked downtown the day before and picked up a $5.00 bus pass good for 24 hours.
I travelled north on Collins St. from 44th Street and got all the way to 169th St. when I realized I had left my game ticket in my hotel room. Frustrated, I left the bus, crossed the street, caught the southbound bus back to my hotel, went up to my room on the 33rd floor, got my ticket and headed back down the elevator. By this time it was about 12:10 pm and I knew I would miss at least the first quarter, and maybe even the first half of my very first NFL game (I'm from Saskatchewan, Canada).
On the way down, I lamented my blunder to a hotel employee who happened to be in the elevator with me. I’ll never forget what then happened…
He seemed genuinely concerned about my situation and casually asked me if I knew how to ride a motorcycle… I said I did and mentioned a couple of the Hondas I had owned over the years (1975 Honda CB550 and 1981 Honda 750F years ago, currently restoring a 1976 Honda CB750K and 1978 Honda CB750F). He said, “Would you like to borrow my motorcycle? If you do, you should be able to make game time.”
I was incredulous, first thinking he must be joking, but he was dead serious… this total stranger (who turned out to be one of the security officers at the hotel) proceeded to lend me his Honda motorcycle equipped with a full fairing and windshield, provided me with a helmet, (I’m from Canada and wouldn’t have been comfortable without one), stuck his electronic toll card on the windshield for the toll booths I would encounter on the way and sent me off with directions to the stadium. Despite his excellent directions I got a bit lost on the I-95 but still managed to arrive about 5 minutes after game time. Two giant hotdogs later and after the Dolphins had routed the Bills (my son’s favourite team) I headed back to the hotel. I filled up the bike with gas just prior to returning it, parked it and went to find Raymond (my new friend from Cuba). I told him again how much I appreciated his incredible generosity and asked if there was anything I could do for him… his reply? “Nope, it’s just what we do around here”.
Up here in Canada we pride ourselves on being fairly decent folks but I'm not sure we'd go quite this far. Needless to say, this experience reaffirmed my faith in humankind and the solidarity of motorcycle enthusiasts everywhere."
He said later that he was concerned about Raymond's bike so did not get to drink any beer...
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